Thursday, November 21, 2013

If you know me, even but at all, then you know how much I love Dave Grohl. Okay, maybe not how
much. Because even I am not sure how much I love him. A whole heck of a
lot. And probably more. But you at least know that I do, in fact, love
him. Some might even speculate that he inspired the very idea of Double
Blind Study and to some extent he did. Someday I may tell y'all the real
story behind where DBS came from, but today is not that day. No, today,
I'm talking about Dave Grohl. I just have to
share with you one of the most inspiring things I have ever experienced.
I was in the middle of revising Learn to Fly and beginning the rough
draft for In Your Honor and I was completely discouraged. I thought
about throwing the whole thing in the trash and walking away. Forget
this writer business, I suck. And then my friend, Emily (who is one the
most amazing people alive), sent me this link because she knows how much
I love Dave. She also loves Dave. We understand one another deeply in
this area. Changed my whole perspective. Now, when I'm doubting myself
or feel like I've lost focus, I come back to this. Yes, it's lengthy.
And yes, he says all the swear words. But if you're an artist of any kind
and need to be inspired, I haven't found anything that even remotely
compares.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Okay, so here's the deal. I was working really hard on the rough for book 3 and it kept getting more and more out of control. Around chapter 6 I started to feel like this wasn't working. It was getting too big, too much was happening. But at the same time, there was so much more that needed to be added. So I set it aside for a week and worked exclusively on revisions for book 2. Solved the problem. But it kind of made a bigger one.

I have to divide what was originally going to be book 3 into two separate stories. It's the only way to give both of them the attention they deserve. There is some good news to this. One of them will only be a novella, book 2.5 if you will. It will have elements of book 3 in it to set the stage, but this way book 3 can be as intricate and crazy as it needs to be. I didn't want to do it. I fought the characters all over the place. But the problem with creating dynamic characters is you really can't phone it in, you know? They have these enormous personalities and they demand to be heard.So on to the bad news. I know that, like, ALL of you are waiting anxiously for Mike's story, it's going to take me a bit longer. He'll get book 3 all to himself and he won't be forced to share which what I had going on in the beginning. You'll like it better this way. And I can't tell you who 2.5 is about (spoilers) until book 2 comes out. After that, I think everything will make sense to you.

Book 2 is slated for a February 8 release. I should be able to have an idea for a release for 2.5 and 3 at that time. So, you hate me yet?